Months
The months of the year: The Gurus remind the Sikhs of the importance of remembering the Lord in each of the 12 months of the year. The Bani called "Baareh Maahaa" (Twelve months) appears on pages 133 to 136 of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. The Bani starts with an introduction and then Maharaj speaks about the month of Chet which normally coincides with March-April of the Western calendar. This Sikh New year falls in spring time (in the northern hemisphere) and is generally celebrated on March 14 each year.
The Sikh calendar called the Nanakshahi Calendar was developed by a Canadian Sikh, Pal Singh Purewal, a retired computer engineer. He started work on the new calendar in the 1960s and now most Sikhs follow this calendar instead of the Hindu version which was followed before. The calendar contains 5 months of 31 days followed by 7 months of 30 days. In a leap year every 4 years, the last month (Phagun) has an extra day added. The list of the month appears below:
No. | Name | Punjabi | Days | Julian Months | 2006 New Month Dates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Chet | ਚੇਤ | 31 | March - April | 14 March |
2 | Vaisakh | ਵੈਸਾਖ | 31 | April - May | 14 April |
3 | Jeth | ਜੇਠ | 31 | May - June | 15 May |
4 | Harh | ਹਾੜ | 31 | June - July | 15 June |
5 | Sawan | ਸਾਵਣ | 31 | July - August | 16 July |
6 | Bhadon | ਭਾਦੋਂ | 30 | August - September | 16 August |
7 | Assu | ਅੱਸੂ | 30 | September - October | 15 September |
8 | Katak | ਕੱਤਕ | 30 | October - November | 15 October |
9 | Maghar | ਮੱਘਰ | 30 | November - December | 14 November |
10 | Poh | ਪੋਹ | 30 | December - January | 14 December |
11 | Magh | ਮਾਘ | 30 | January - February | 13 January |
12 | Phagun | ਫੱਗਣ | 30/311 | February - March | 12 February |
- 1 Days in Phagun: normally 30, but 31 in leap years
See also
These are the Twelve Months of the Nanakshahi Calendar | |||||||||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
Chet | Vaisakh | Jeth | Harh | Sawan | Bhadon | Assu | Katak | Maghar | Poh | Magh | Phagun |